Podcasts as an alternative to practice listening comprehension.

Abstract

This research aims to provide the factors that critically impact the comprehension of a listening track. Furthermore, how scholars that learn English can use podcasts as another alternative to practice their listening skills. This research project needed the qualitative method to get the best answers and is focused solely on the phenomenological study. To gather details, a questionnaire was set as the main instrument. The one-on-one interview was used as the principal data collection technique. With open-ended questions through Zoom, the meetings were achievable with three English teachers, which were the essential sample. The final results were as it follows: unfamiliar vocabulary, poor concentration, and American and British accents are three main factors that decline comprehension when students develop an English listening comprehension activity. Nevertheless, according to the interviewees’ experience, pronunciation, speed of speech, idioms, grammar, and phrasal verbs are other serious elements to impact the comprehension of a listening track in English. Although for the two interviewees, there was not enough experience related to podcasts, interviewee 3 argued that podcasts represent a good alternative to practicing English listening comprehension due to the various topics students can discover and listen to. In conclusion, podcasts are a pretty good idea as an alternative to practicing listening skills.